He had to hand it to Sakura. She'd been dealing with this girl for seven years now. He could barely keep up with her for six hours.

He'd run across entire countries, struck down multiple opponents at once, taken a part in fighting and winning a war, and still had more energy left than he had now.

They'd gone to the recreation room in one of the lower levels of the building first and had spent a couple of hours down there. The room hadn't been what he'd been expecting. Bookshelves lined the walls but instead of being filled to the brim with textbooks or novels, the shelves held a vast variety of different games and children's books.

After noting his curious expression, Sakura had explained to him that this was the room where newly orphaned children spent most of their time before they were placed in a group home or with a foster family. It was an idea, she said, that had actually been originally started by Naruto back in Konoha.

There had always been a system that dealt with unwanted or orphaned children back in the Hidden Leaf, but it was always a very cold, unwelcoming one. Sasuke remembered how, after the death of his family, he'd gone from the hospital directly into a tiny apartment complex where most of the village's unwanted children were housed. He found it strangely relieving to know that not only had something been done about it, but Naruto himself had been the one to get it started. And now, it had even spread to other villages.

Most of that time in the brightly colored room was spent with Hana teaching Sasuke how to play a few different card games. Of course, being seven, she wasn't the best at explaining how to do it, but after Sasuke caught the main idea of the games, he soon found himself winning each and every round they played.

Much to the chagrin of Hana.

He supposed she got sick of losing at one point, cause after one game where he'd won after only a couple of minutes, she decided that she was done with the rec room and wanted to do something else now.

"I got an idea! Let's go train or something!"

As the child mentioned it, Sasuke couldn't help but notice the reluctant look that flashed across Sakura's face, but after meeting his eyes she smiled, nodding down to the eager girl.

It didn't take them long to find Kankuro, who had been conveniently walking through one of the halls as they looked for a Suna official to help them out.

He'd been uneasy at the prospect of letting them leave the building to go to the training grounds, which weren't far away. In fact, he had them follow him as he personally walked to Gaara's office to gain permission.

As they stood in the doorway—well, he and Sakura stood, but Hana skipped right in to greet the Kazekage with a bright grin—it didn't take long for the red-haired man to smile toward the child and nod at Kankuro, before returning his attention back toward whatever paperwork he was occupying himself with.

That's where they'd spent the rest of their day: at the closest training ground to the offices. The large building could be clearly seen from the small field they were in. Thankfully, it wasn't just a large pit of sand, but actual grass covered the area; it was dry and itchy sand that crunched under their feet as they walked, but it was better than nothing.

Sasuke had been pleased at the idea of training, but it wasn't until he was on the field with her, when he realized he didn't exactly know what to do with her. He'd never trained anyone before. And other than that one time back in the forest, where he tried to teach her the fireball jutsu, he'd never had to deal with training alongside a child.

Thankfully, Sakura had been there to get them started.

She'd offered the idea of target practice, smiling down at Hana and encouraging her by handing her a couple of kunai. Sasuke could see her forced smile and her tense stance, but he knew that she knew that Hana needed to learn how to protect herself.

They threw kunai and shuriken for a long time, Sasuke trying to think of new exercises to practice with the child as they worked. Thankfully, Hana had found herself content just to throw the kunai at any target she could find in the clearing; mostly trees and a couple of fence posts too.

At one point, he'd even asked Sakura if she wanted to take over for a little while; he figured that maybe it would calm her nerves if she trained with Hana instead. But Sakura smiled as she shook her head, kindly denying the offer.

Mainly Hana just goofed off for a good amount of the time they spent there, doing as children often did. But at one point, without warning she surprised him by pulling off a fairly impressive great fireball, one that could easily engulf an entire person with no problem.

After she'd completed it, she'd looked up at him expectedly, as if waiting for him to say something to her or so acknowledge her progress. At that moment he couldn't rid the memory of himself doing the same exact thing all those years ago. Giving her a smile he'd reached down and patted her on the head, telling her that she'd done well.

And as he spoke the words, her face lit up with excitement and she hugged him tightly before turning and running toward where Sakura sat. As Sasuke allowed his eyes to follow, he frowned as he noticed Sakura wiping at her face as Hana approached. Had she been crying?

Slowly walking back over toward them, he waited for Hana to busy herself with something else before turning toward Sakura, concerned. But when he asked her if she was alright, she simply nodded, smiling at him.

Sasuke didn't believe her, but he didn't push the subject.

Oddly enough, after the child declared she was hungry and that she wanted to go back, Sasuke realized just how exhausted he was. It wasn't that they'd been moving around a lot or were being especially active; please, Sasuke could run for days with no problem. It was simply the fact that Hana was so talkative, he didn't know how to handle it. He knew that it was definitely not a trait that she got from him.

Holding a conversation for a few minutes was impressive for him, and the fact that this child could talk for literally hours, was something that completely astounded him.

Currently, they were all back in Sakura and Hana's temporary living quarters, sitting in the main area. Sakura sat at the end of the only couch in the room, while Hana situated herself comfortably and laid her head in her mother's lap as she sprawled herself across the rest of the couch.

Sasuke had made himself comfortable in a rickety chair that had been folded up against the wall. Or, at least, he tried to make himself comfortable. Instead of simply sitting down normally he ended up turning it around, one leg on each side of it as he folded his arms over the back of the chair, resting his chin on the top of it.

"I think she's asleep," Sakura commented with a smile as she looked down at the tired girl. She was idly running her hands through her dark, damp hair. After they'd returned, Hana had taken a bath and then curled up beside her mother on the couch.

"Is she always so… noisy?"

Sakura shot him an annoyed glance. "All kids are loud, Sasuke."

"She talks so much though."

Sakura's expression softened a bit as she let out a light laugh. "She's my little social butterfly."

Sasuke watched, entranced as Sakura smiled softly toward her daughter—their daughter, he corrected mentally. He was still getting used to the fact that he and Sakura were both parents to this incredible little girl. Or better yet, he couldn't get used to the fact that he was actually a father.

"You were crying earlier today," he commented, suddenly remembering her odd display of emotion at the training grounds that day.

"It's just," Sakura bit her lip, and Sasuke could already see her eyes starting to water again, "it's really nothing." She assured with a nervous smile and a shake of her head.

"I still want to know."

Sakura sighed at his persistence. Even Sasuke was a little shocked at himself; he wasn't a big talker and he was never one to pry.

"It's just that for years now, I've had this stupid childish image in my head." Pausing, she shook her head, as if embarrassed by the words she was preparing herself to say. "I've had this picture in my head of you and of Hana spending time together, like a normal father and daughter." She let out a forced laugh, "Of course I never really expected it to ever happen, so I've always tried not to think about it too much. But today, when she did that fireball—" Sakura wiped at a couple of tears just as they started their descent down her face, "Sorry. But I saw that and I just can't stop thinking that this stupid little dream of mine might actually be coming true."

"Dream…" he mimicked under his breath, thinking hard about her words.

"I know that you're not sure whether or not you want to stay with us, and that's okay right now." As she spoke Sasuke shot her a bewildered expression. The last thing he was expecting her to say was how his indecisiveness was totally fine. Noticing his expression, she held a hand up. "Hold on, I'm not finished.

"I'm just saying that I understand. I mean, you've known about her for what? Almost a month now? A month is a short amount of time to make such an extreme decision. I won't lie, every day since you found me I've been hoping that you'll come back after all is said and done, but I also know that, well… with your past with the village and all, you might not." She finished her words in a whisper, genuinely surprising Sasuke with how composed she kept herself. The Sakura that he knew used to always cry when she talked about emotional things like this.

"I just—" she sighed, as if frustrated with herself, "I'm not trying to make it seem like you have to come back and I don't want to pressure you to do anything you don't want to, but—"

"She's my daughter," he interrupted, "of course I want to be with her."

Sakura looked genuinely taken aback by his admission. "Y-you do? Does that mean you'll… come back?"

Sasuke let out a long breath of air as he laid his forehead against the back of the chair. "I don't know," he admitted, as if frustrated with himself. "I want to be… a part of her life, but," he sighed, "I just don't know."

They were both quiet for a long time, each of them finding something else to focus on. For Sakura, she simply kept running her fingers through Hana's long hair. For Sasuke, he simply stared at the odd patterns on the couch, tracing them lazily with his eyes.

"If it helps with your decision-making or whatever," Sakura said after about ten minutes of silence, "you can keep me out of the equation completely." Sasuke shot her a confused look that basically said, 'I don't understand'. She stayed silent for another couple of minutes, perhaps thinking hard about what she was about to say. "I know our relationship is… complicated, to put it lightly. But you don't need to factor me into any of this. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't let me affect your decision, please. If you want to come back to Konoha for Hana and Hana only, please just do that."

Sasuke went back to thinking to himself in silence after she spoke. Was she trying to get him to forget about her? Did she think that she was one of the main things holding him back? He almost wanted to scoff at the thought; things were quite the opposite really. If anything, she was one of the main reasons that would actually cause him to return for good.

Did she really, after all these years, still not know how he felt about her?

But as he thought about it some more, he realized that he'd never vocalized his feelings for her all those years ago back during the war. He'd come close to doing it once, the night before they departed and went their separate ways, but then he decided against it.

He could admit it all to her now. Tell her how he felt about her; that he'd felt that way all these years. It would be so easy. It wouldn't even take a minute. But of course… something was holding him back.

Well, a few different things were holding him back.

He didn't know if she still loved him. He didn't want to complicate things further. Hell, he wasn't sure if she'd even believe him if he told her.

Looking at her calm, peaceful face, he knew he had to say at least something to her. Attempting to swallow the lump in his throat, he shifted slightly in his chair. "When I make my decision, you'll be the first to know."

Sakura nodded at him, seemingly pleased at his words. "Thank you," she said after a moment of comfortable silence. "It really means a lot."

And again the silence resumed. Usually Sasuke found himself quite comfortable with silences, but whenever he was around Sakura, and especially since there were so many things that had been left unsaid currently, he found himself feeling awkward and uneasy at the lack of conversation in the room. Suddenly, a passing thought crossed through his mind and he found himself looking to Sakura for the answer to his question.

"Shikamaru and Temari?"

Sakura paused a moment, taking in his vague question, before suddenly realizing what he was truly asking and busting out into soft, hardly-contained laughter. Struggling to keep her giggling quiet so she didn't disturb Hana, she nodded her head toward him. "This has been going on for years now."

"Since when?"

"Oh gosh, I don't know. I think it was either during the war or right after it. They've been on and off for a long time basically—"

Upon hearing the front door open, Sasuke allowed his eyes to wander only to find Ino making her way in.

"Hey guys!" she greeted happily, but upon seeing Hana sleeping, she placed a hand over her mouth. "Oops," she said, much quieter this time. "What're you guys up to?"

Sharing a look, Sasuke shook his head as Sakura couldn't contain her giggles. She then proceeded to tell Ino about their afternoon, and about Hana's intrusion on Shikamaru and Temari's 'private time'.

"Shut up," Ino grinned, listening in on the latest piece of gossip Sakura had to offer her. "She just walked in?! You'd think that they'd lock the door, or at least go into the bedroom!"

"I know," Sakura let out another laugh, "I still can't believe it."

"So they're back on again? Oh man, I'm so going to get Shikamaru to spill the beans next time I see him." Ino said, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest. Shaking her head and laughing, she walked into the tiny kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "So have you been filling him in on all the stuff that's been going on? Y'know, all the gossip and such?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, looking from Ino to Sakura, "There's more?"

"Isn't there always?" Ino said, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and closing it with her hip. "You can always talk about Kiba and Hanabi; that's always a fun topic."

Sasuke finally understood why Kiba's fury was directed at him so fiercely. It made perfect sense, really.

"They aren't together, Ino."

"Not yet!" She grinned slyly, grabbing another chair and sitting herself by Sasuke. "He's in love with that girl."

"No he isn't," Sakura said, although Sasuke could tell by her tone that she wasn't too sure herself.

"Oh yeah, totally. Why do you think he's been so pissy?"

"Well she is Hinata's little sister."

"Doesn't matter. He's head over heels. Too bad she wants his head on a silver platter basically. Oh well," Ino shrugged, taking a sip of her water. "Trust me, I know Kiba."

Sakura scoffed, "Yeah yeah, you really know him alright." At the suggestive look she shot Ino, Sasuke had a feeling he really didn't want to know what they were insinuating.

"Please. That was years ago."

"No, it started years ago. It only ended, what? A year and a half ago?"

"Totally over it. I like to think of it now like it was a fun way to pass time." She shrugged, "You can't deny we were a hot couple."

Sasuke had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "So modest…" he mumbled under his breath, resting his head back down on the back of the chair.

Apparently he didn't speak quietly enough, next thing he knew Ino had flung her now-empty water bottle toward him, hitting him square on the head. Sure, he could've blocked it, but he didn't actually think she'd really do it.

As she stood up to leave the room, Sasuke gave Sakura a look of bewilderment. He couldn't believe it. She'd actually thrown the damn thing at him!

Before he could say anything, Ino, who had walked into her temporary room, leaned out of the doorway, hanging on the frame, and smiled at them innocently.

"If you're looking for another topic to talk about, why don't you mention your little escapades with Lee?"

And with another impish grin and a wink, she'd closed the door behind her, knowing full well what she'd just done.

Sasuke replayed Ino's words in his head once, twice, and then a third time, just to be sure he wasn't simply hearing things. Finally, he looked toward Sakura with a raised eyebrow, "Lee?"

He'd known of the green-clad's ninja's infactuation with Sakura ever since they were children. The first time their team had even met his, Lee had already become enamored with her, trying desperately to win over her affections. It had been annoying back then, and thinking about it again after all these years, he still found it just as bothersome.

But Sakura had always shut him down in the past. Hell, he'd witnessed it with his own eyes. What would've caused her to change her mind?

Sakura groaned in annoyance before meeting Sasuke's eyes and letting out a nervous chuckle. "I hate when she brings that up," she muttered through partially gritted teeth. Sighing, she shook her head. "A few years back I let Lee take me on a few dates." She shrugged. "He was always so persistent—but in a nice way, of course—and he was good with Hana so I figured hey, why not?"

For some reason, the image of a man who was not him playing around and spending time with his daughter made him feel strangely angry.

"It was only a few dates around town though," she defended, "and after I realized I wasn't going to feel anything for him I just had to tell him no again after that. I still feel kind of bad, but I think he's over it now."

Sasuke nodded, taking in her words and thinking long and hard about them. He still, no matter how hard he tried, could not picture Sakura actually agreeing and going along with Lee on any number of dates. But as he watched her from where he sat, he had to again remind himself that she'd changed.

"So what about you?" she asked with a strangely positive tone, "Have you, you know, been on like, dates or anything?" She asked, trying to switch the topic back around at him. "I mean, it has been a while, right?"

He could hear the hesitance in her voice as she asked the question; she probably didn't really want to know, but he could understand her painful curiosity.

Honestly speaking, he certainly had many opportunities after receiving countless offers from the different women he'd met upon his travels, but he simply never found himself interested. He could never understand why, but now, as he sat in the same room as the girl he'd fallen in love with all those years ago, it finally made sense.

He shook his head in response, "No."

Sakura looked genuinely surprised. She'd looked anxious and nervous before his response, but she was probably expecting an entirely different answer. "Really? Not one?"

"You sound shocked."

"Well, it's just—no. I just figured, since you always had girls chasing after you, even back when we were kids, I thought maybe it would've gotten worse as we got older?"

Oh, it definitely had. But he wasn't about to let her know that. Even when he thought about how women of all ages would make passes at him, it made him squirm in his seat. "I mean, there were still… admirers." He cringed, hating the way the words sounded on his lips.

"Why didn't you then?"

He shrugged, tracing his finger up and down one of the legs of the chair. "They weren't you."

It took him a full minute after he spoke the words before he fully understood the extent of what he'd just said.

Shit.

Looking up at her face, he found her staring back at him. He'd never seen her taken so aback before in his entire life. Even back when he'd kissed her for the first time, she'd looked less shocked than she did now.

"Wh-what?" Her voice was soft, just barely above a whisper. She looked at him with dazed, glossy eyes, as if she wasn't sure whether or not she was hearing correctly or if she was dreaming.

He opened his mouth to reply, but he didn't know what to say. Fuck. He hadn't meant to say that outloud! It had just sort of, slipped out without warning. He suddenly found himself opening and closing his mouth, like a fish out of water, searching for something to say—for anything to say.

"I-I'm probably going to uh," he cleared his voice awkwardly before standing up out of the chair, "call it a night and um, head back to my room and all."

He was mumbling. Uchiha Sasuke was stuttering and mumbling over his words and he felt—and probably looked—like a damn fool. He'd never been so embarrassingly nervous over something he'd said before, in his entire 24 years of existence.

Sakura nodded numbly up toward him, still keeping her eyes locked on his face; her jaw still hung open in shock of his words.

"I guess I'll hit the hay, too." Her words sounded spaced-out, as if she were genuinely disoriented by everything going on around her. Gently, she lifted Hana's head, trying to get into a comfortable position to lift the girl into her arms.

"Hang on," Sasuke interrupted, moving toward them, "let me." At his offer, Sakura simply nodded a few times, seemingly unable to form words now.

With careful movements, he placed his arms underneath Hana, lifting her easily into the air. As he followed Sakura's lead into the bedroom, he kept his eyes fixated on the dark-haired girl. After Sasuke had lifted her, she'd immediately readjusted herself, tiredly hooking one arm behind his neck and with her other hand, she gripped the front of his shirt. Watching her, all snuggled up close to him, clinging to him tightly… it made him not want to let go of her.

But before he knew it, he was already lowering her onto the mattress and removing her hold on him. As he straightened back up, he watched Sakura pull the blankets overtop of Hana, tucking her in and kissing her forehead.

Suddenly remembering his words, and feeling extremely awkward again, Sasuke turned and started to slowly make his way toward the front door. He wanted to move a lot quicker to get himself out of there as fast as possible, but he didn't want it to look like he was literally fleeing the scene.

She stopped him just before he reached the door.

"Sasuke."

He turned to see her standing in the doorway of her room and was surprised to see her smiling softly toward him; her perplexed look finally gone.

"Hm?"

"I just wanted to say, thanks."

He nodded toward her, offering her a slight smile of his own. He was secretly relieved that she didn't ask him further about what he said. As he opened the door and stepped outside, the sound of Sakura's voice stopped him once more

"And just so you know, the physical abuse means she doesn't hate you anymore. Just ask Shikamaru. Or Sai."

Sasuke couldn't help but smile to himself at that comment. Turning back toward her, he gave her another, more genuine smile.

"Goodnight, Sakura."

"Goodnight."

That night, instead of falling asleep worrying and fretting over letting a simple sentence slip out, he laid himself down in his bed and slept peacefully—happily even—for the first time in a long time.

His dreams were finally pleasant.

"I heard that we finally received a reply from Naruto."

Sasuke looked up across the table to meet eyes with his former sensei. "Any news?"

Kakashi shook his head, "I haven't heard anything quite yet. But I'll be meeting up with Gaara in just a little while. You guys will know anything as soon as I do."

Sasuke nodded as he took another bite of his sandwich. Trying not to be obvious, he looked toward Kakashi with a sideways glance. Even after all these years, he couldn't help being curious and simultaneously frustrated over the fact that Kakashi never ate around any of them. Meaning, they'd never seen his face.

As he thought, he did correct himself mentally as he remembered how Sakura told him all those years ago that she'd seen it.

And childish as it may be, he was jealous. But not only had that stayed the same, Sasuke had to repress a great big sigh when Kakashi had pulled out another copy of those damn books he read. He was sure that it had been read at least a dozen times over; the spine of the book was worn and he could see that pages were beginning to slip out. He didn't think he'd ever understand their appeal.

"So," Kakashi peered over the edge of his book, with a curious expression on his face, "Have you seen Sakura or Hana yet today?"

Shaking his head in response he shifted slightly in his seat. For some reason ever since he'd woken up, he'd been strangely anxious.

They'd been in the Hidden Sand for four days now, and Sasuke had just about spent all of his time with the two girls. He'd start the day with them eating breakfast with them in the same cafeteria in which he sat now, and he'd finish the day back at Sakura's temporary apartment, just talking about… whatever really. Their conversations never had much too depth to them, but it was refreshing to talk to someone after going so long without having any sort of real companionship.

He'd also been doing very well at controlling any further slip ups, keeping his private thoughts to himself. Most of the time at least.

Thinking back on a comment he let slip out the night before, he cringed. He kicked himself mentally as he replayed the scene over and over in his head. He'd looked like an idiot. It had been bad enough when it was only Sakura around and conscious to hear it, but this time it was Sakura, Hana, and Ino.

The two older women had been sitting on the couch, simply talking about whatever happened to be on their mind, while Sasuke sat in his chair, lazily watching Hana attempt to make a house of cards.

"I can't wait to get back home," Sakura had said dreamily, pulling her legs up to her chest. "I need a haircut, pronto."

Ino had laughed in response, "I think a haircut is the least of your worries. You still need to gain back, what? Like twenty pounds? You're nothing but skin and bones."

"Don't remind me," she mumbled into her knees, "I look like a damn skeleton. Or a zombie."

"Oh, you don't look like a zombie. You're just a little underweight right now, it's nothing that can't be fixed with a normal diet."

"Please," Sakura scoffed, "the last time I looked in a mirror I scared myself."

"You don't look that bad," Ino, attempting to cheer her up, looked toward Sasuke for some unknown reason. "Right?"

Lifting his eyes from Hana he quickly found Sakura's form, curled up on the couch, peering at him nervously from over her knees. As he stared he watched as Sakura shifted, breaking eye contact and tucking some hair behind her ear.

"I think you look beautiful."

He really wished he had just kept his mouth shut, but he was never one to lie to a person to spare feelings. He supposed Sakura thought he would insult her, but when she heard his words, the same surprised look that she had before suddenly fell upon her features.

"I think you look pretty too, Mom!"

Sasuke was thankful for Hana's interruption, because it temporarily distracted the two women who had been gaping at him, and gave him enough time to collect his thoughts. Before they'd even looked back toward him, he was already standing up, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and spitting out some stupid excuse before turning around and leaving.

"Hm, that's odd. Usually you guys spend the whole day together." Even though Sasuke was trying to only pay attention to his meal, he couldn't help but feel Kakashi's eyes trained on him. "Did anything happen?"

Sasuke purposefully took a while to respond, first choosing to chew and swallow his food before letting his eyes wander lazily over toward Kakashi, all the while trying his best to maintain a good pokerface. But as soon as his eyes met Kakashi's, he knew that the man had some sort of idea of what had happened.

"No," he deadpanned, glaring as Kakashi let out a light chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing, nothing…"

As he was thinking up some comment to shoot back at his old sensei, the sound of doors opening and quick, light footsteps running across the tiled floor cause Sasuke to turn around in his seat. Just as he turned his body he found himself face to face with a very excited 7-year-old.

"Hi Dad!" Before he could bring himself to reply she'd practically jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his torso tightly, giggling happily.

"You're in a good mood today," Sasuke mumbled under his breath as he leaned down slightly to return the hug.

"That's because there's a festival tonight and I get to go!"

"Might get to go. Might."

At the sound of Sakura's voice, Sasuke looked up just as she approached the table with her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face.

"But Temari-san said she'd see what she could do, and she always keeps her promises!"

Sakura sighed as she took a seat beside Sasuke. "You just don't know the meaning of 'maybe' yet, do you?"

Hana, who had taken it upon herself to climb into Sasuke's lap, pouted where she sat, refusing to look her mother in the eye. "I just want to do something fun."

Not used to having a sulking child in his lap—or even around him for that matter—Sasuke shifted in his seat, not exactly knowing how to react to her disappointment.

Sakura forced a smile onto her face, "I know you do, Hana. But you know why we can't just say yes."

Hana's frown deepened, her lower lip jutting out more as she nodded a couple of times. "It's not fair."

As he watched her reaction he was suddenly scared that she might start crying at any given moment. Looking over toward Sakura for assistance he anxiously waited for her to do or say something.

"Hey Hana," Kakashi surprised Sasuke by being the one to break the awkward silence, "why don't you go get yourself something to eat, hm? I'll see what I can do for you over here."

Still pouting, but not quite on the verge of tears anymore, Hana nodded once more before hopping off of Sasuke's lap, dragging her feet away from their table.

"I just don't know what to do," Sakura put her head in her hands after Hana was finally out of earshot, "she found out about the stupid thing by accident anyways."

"May I ask how?" Kakashi asked.

"Out on the back deck if you look to the west you can see the main road from there. I took Hana out this morning and she just so happened to see people setting up banners and lamps and all sorts of things." She bit her lip as she peeked over her shoulder, watching Hana grab a plate from a table. "She just started begging me out of nowhere and when I told her 'I don't know' she turned to Temari and started begging her too." She let out a quick, humorless laugh, "I guess Temari didn't know how to react so she just said 'I'll have to check'."

"It's not safe," Sasuke said immediately. "Someone could identify her."

Just the thought of Hana being out on the streets with potentially hundreds upon hundreds of random civilians—strangers, he emphasized in his head—made him intensely nervous. It was unknown the amount of people in Suna could be working under Masaru. And with festivals, with people visiting from villages all over the country, there was no telling what kind of people would be in attendance, or how many potential enemies may travel for the festivities.

"I know that, and I think to an extent she knows that too. It's just… I feel so bad. She's been such a good sport through all of this insanity; she hardly complains, and if she does, it's with little comments about how much she misses home, her bed, her friends. Little things like that." Frowning, Sakura shook her head in frustration. "I just don't know what to do!"

Sasuke turned slightly as she spoke, watching Hana idly. She looked so sad; it genuinely pained him to see her acting like that. But he knew that her safety came before anything else; he wouldn't know what he'd do if something were to happen to her…

"I'm meeting with Gaara soon," Kakashi commented, "I could ask him his thoughts. Maybe there's a way it could work."

"I don't know…"

"If not, I'll break the news to her myself," he offered, a genuine look in his eye. "But who knows? There could be a simple way for her to be able to go, even if just for a little while."

"I guess just… let me know if you guys can figure anything out."

"Will do." With another smile, he looked past the two, "So Hana, listen to this."

Sasuke watched as she walked back up to the table, placing her plate—which hardly had any food on it—on the table in front of him. She then, while still pouting, proceeded to climb back into his lap, only to sit there and stare at her plate sadly.

Watching his daughter he almost wanted to roll his eyes. He understood that she wanted to do something fun, but he couldn't help but feel she was being just a bit overdramatic. Although as he let his eyes wander toward her mother, he had a feeling he knew where she got it from…

"I have to talk to Gaara soon, so I'm going to ask him if he can help us out here."

"So I can go to the festival?" She looked up at him with wide, watery eyes, still holding her frown steady.

"I'm going to ask, so we'll need to wait and find out. But I promise if we can't, I'll find something else fun for us to do."

"Like giving you another makeover?"

Sasuke had to resist the sudden urge to laugh, especially since Kakashi's expression fell so abruptly. "Uh, maybe something else fun…" The older man let out an uncomfortable laugh before standing himself up and turning to leave. "But I'll see you guys later." And with a slight wave goodbye, Kakashi made his exit.

"Do your best Kaka-san!" Hana yelled, twisting in Sasuke's lap so that she could lean over his shoulder and eagerly wave goodbye.

Finding out how uncomfortable it was to have a squirming child in your lap, Sasuke decided he'd had enough of her digging her knees and hands into his legs. She wasn't heavy but somehow it seemed as if she knew just how to sit so that her tiny, bony body would dig uncomfortably into his thighs.

"Hana," he grunted, finally grabbing hold of her, "you need to sit still." Placing his hands underneath her arms, he turned her around so that she was facing forward once more and sat her back down on his lap.

Hana, as if oblivious to his discomfort, simply smiled to herself, finally deciding to start enjoying her meal. Sasuke allowed his eyes to wander toward Sakura, who had sat silently for the past couple of minutes, and was surprised to find her staring at him with a curious expression on her face. As he raised an eyebrow, she seemed to finally realize that he was staring back at her and quickly averted her eyes.

For a split second he could've sworn he saw her cheeks blush.

"Are you going to come to the festival, too?" Hana asked, bringing both of her parent's attention back toward her. "'Cause it looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun."

Sasuke thought to himself for a moment. Festivals were definitely not his thing. In fact, he had to hold himself back from immediately replying with a stern 'no', due to his distaste of people, noise, and pointless celebration. But thinking back to the potential dangers of her being out in public with so many strangers, he knew he didn't really have a choice anymore.

"I guess I'll have to."

"You don't seem very excited," Hana accused. Sasuke could hear the frown in her voice.

"I'm not," he admitted in reply.

"Why don't you like festivals?"

"I don't particularly like people."

"That's weird." She turned in her seat to peer up at him with a strange look. "You're weird, Dad."

"Tsh." Placing his hand on her head he forced her to turn back around and finish her meal.

Sakura only laughed.

A/N: This is the last chapter until I start up classes again, so if I happen to miss a week here and there, try not to dwell on it too much; i'll be much busier between work and school.

Thanks for all the recommendations! And please keep 'em coming! They're all great so far. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter. Don't worry, things will start picking up speed again in the next one.

Don't forget to let me know what you think.